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The state government has defended spending $1 million on an advertising campaign about Western Australia’s GST deal, as the fight to protect the state’s carve-up of the distribution ramps up. It comes as Premier Roger Cook and Treasurer Rita Saffioti prepare to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Monday, with the GST deal and looming federal environment law reforms expected to be on the list of discussion points. The campaign, called "WA's GST is working for Australia", will launch later this week, with advertisements set to run in eastern states newspapers, on billboards in Canberra, on radio and online. "This is a real fight to make sure that WA keeps the deal that was struck in 2018," Ms Saffioti said on Sunday, ahead of her trip to Canberra. "I would say every time we've been to the other states … it's constantly thrown in our face, the GST deal, and [by] economic commentators … it's now got to the public over east. "So we have a job to inform people that a good GST deal for WA is good for the nation." "We need to make sure that they understand that tearing up or changing the GST deal to penalise WA would impact national economic growth and national jobs." Cash splash 'worth it': Treasurer Reforms to the GST distribution by the Morrison government in 2018 mean WA keeps at least 75 cents for every dollar of GST revenue. In September, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers released the terms of reference for the Australian Productivity Commission's review into those reforms, a review mandated by law. In response, Ms Saffioti established a GST "fairness fighter" team within the Department of Treasury to lead the State's response to the review. According to the government and the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, without the 2018 deal, WA would receive 18 per cent of its population share for 2025-26, which they calculated as $6 billion less. "This is a fight worth $6.5 billion this year," Ms Saffioti said on Sunday. Point of contention The GST deal has been a point of contention between states and territories since they were changed in 2018. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as good as promised WA's deal would not change during the election campaign, going as far as signing that statement on a reporters arm. But the review has stoked new fears the deal is at risk. "While Anthony Albanese and the Federal Government have backed WA and the current GST deal, we know east coast states are trying to tear down the GST floor and reduce WA's GST share even further," a "GST Fact Sheet" provided by the WA government as part of the advertising campaign stated. "It's just not fair and Western Australia can't sit on the sidelines." Part of the government's argument is that the current GST share received by WA is invested into economic infrastructure that drives the nation's economy. "Without this GST deal that was struck in 2018 we wouldn't be in a position to support economic growth, to build the roads, to build the ports, to make sure we get the energy and water infrastructure to support new projects," Ms Saffioti said on Sunday. "That GST deal is fundamental to WA's economic growth and national economic growth." "Even with the GST deal we are contributing $2.5 billion to other states … and that's just in GST. "They [people outside of WA] all think that somehow, they're not getting anything out of WA." Environmental reforms on the agenda Mr Cook and Ms Saffioti also plan to meet with the Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt to discuss once-in-a-generation reforms to Australia's environment laws, introduced to parliament last week. Ms Saffioti said they would be looking to ensure "industry continues to be involved". "It's making sure there's clarity … it's like all legislation, so you got the concept and then you've got the details and making sure that the details don't have any undesired consequences or consequences that couldn't be predicted," she said.
